Perfect Game - Tom Browning

Not every perfect game can be a battle between titans like Don Larsen's in the '56 World Series, nor can they all be like the Addie Joss game where the opposing pitcher was almost as masterful and struck out 15 and only allowed the single run in a 1-0 duel...but Tom Browning gave us a bit of a combo of both.

On September 16, 1988, Tom Browning and the Cincinnati Reds played host to the future World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers. The Reds themselves were only a couple of seasons away from winning the World Series. By time this game happened, the Dodgers pretty much had the NL West wrapped up, with the Reds a distant 2nd place, but Cincinnati got a memorable moment over them before the season ended. But first, everyone had to wait for the rain. The game had to wait until late night to begin after a two and a half hour rain delay.

Tom Browning and his opponent, Tim Belcher, both worked efficiently. Breezing through each others lineup. While Browning was perfect, Belcher was tossing a no-hitter until Barry Larkin doubled and scored on a later error. That one mistake was costly, and prevented a Harvey Haddix situation where a perfect game goes into extra innings.

Not that Browning minded. With a 1-0 lead, he was able to close out the Dodgers in 9 innings and etch his name into history, striking out 7 in just 102 pitches and never once going to a 3-ball count against the 27 Dodgers at-bats. The Dodgers went on to become the 1st team to win a World Series after being victimized by a perfect game (something they fell 1 win shy of in 1956)...or if you want to look at it from a different perspective, Browning became the only pitcher to toss a perfect game against a seasons eventual champion.

As his card indicates, Browning was prone to allowing the long ball (surrendering a league leading and career high of 36 that season) but on this night the Dodgers just couldn't roll any 20s, and as his chart suggests, unless it's a homer, it's an out with Tom Browning holding the advantage.

Reed was picked up in a deadline trade and caught the perfecto. As his future Showdown card reiterates, Jeff is lacking in the power, but never the on-base.

Belcher brought his A-game to Cincinnati, but bad luck denied him on this night. Still a solid showing from the future champion as he went the full 8 innings and struck out 7 Reds before giving way to a pinch hitter for his 9th inning at-bat.

Hall of Fame man Barry Larkin would double in the 6th to end Belchers no-hit bid, then come around to score on the error, to make the unearned run the only scoring from either team.

A +2 rating at 3rd Base isn't too shabby, but unfortunately for Jeff Hamilton it didn't make him immune from the costly error that allowed Larkin to score.

This was a pretty cool night for Paul O'Neill, being apart of history and all, but nothing too unique as far as perfect games go. Little did he know that this would become a regular occurrence for him, as he would go on to play on two more perfect game teams and become the only player in history to have participated in three perfect games.